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If a builder is licensed, the status of it's permit to operate will be listed as well as contact information and a license number that should be included on all contracts. Any complaints against the builder, resolved and unresolved, are also tallied on the site.

If there's no license for the contractor on the website, shut the door.

Scams involving unlicensed contractors who take money up front and then never finish or even start the work promised, appear to be on the rise in Arizona based on the growing "most wanted contractor list" and penalties levied by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors during the past year.

Arizona's booming growth has long attracted disreputable builders.

The state began licensing contractors when the Registrar was formed in 1931. Then in 1981 during a home-building boom, the state agency created a recovery fund for duped or unhappy consumers that is staked by a $200,000 deposit or bond from each licensed contractor.

Consumers have little to no hope of getting their money back, or the work completed, if their contractor isn't licensed. If work is done shoddily or not finished by a licensed builder, the homeowner can be paid back from the state's contractor recovery fund.

During the past year, the Registrar has levied about $250,000 in fines against unlicensed builders in Arizona.

The latest crackdown on an unlicensed contractor happened earlier this month when Lake Havasu City police arrested Adam Frank Lilla, the owner of Artisan Fine Woodworking, on allegations of contracting and advertising building services without a license.

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NAME: Patrick Mike Callahan | WANTED FOR: Contracting without a license. | HISTORY: He is alleged by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors to taking thousands of dollars in advance, failing to produce any of the materials and then abandoning the job. He is accused of targeting the elderly with this type of contracting scam. | WARRANT ISSUED FROM: Maricopa County Arizona Register of Contractors

NAME: Joseph William Wharton II | WANTED FOR: Contracting without a license | HISTORY: Wharton has outstanding warrants in several Arizona counties. He has been accused of targeting the elderly and soliciting contracting jobs by knocking on doors and giving a false name. He allegedly performs unnecessary work such as applying a roof sealant. He is accused of continuing to increase the agreed upon price of work as long as he can obtain additional money from his victims. | WARRANT ISSUED FROM: Maricopa County Arizona Registrar of Contractors

NAME: Rafaela Juarez and Hugo Juarez-Zaragoza | ALIASES: Juarez also believed to go by "Ana" and "Lisa" | WANTED FOR: Crimes against persons, failure to appear, contracting without a license | HISTORY: The agency received and investigated 11 complaints against the couple between 2010 and 2016. During this time, the money paid by consumers to these two unlicensed entities is alleged to total $138,100. The contracted-for work typically involves landscaping and the couple is known to work in Sun City, Sun City West and Sun City Grand areas. In late October 2016, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and the Arizona Registrar of Contractors announced a judge had issued an arrest warrant for an El Mirage couple accused of stealing more than $15,000 from owners of a Surprise home in a construction-fraud scheme. The state grand jury indicted Juarez and Juarez-Zaragoza. | WARRANT ISSUED FROM: State grand jury Arizona Registrar of Contractors

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Problems and scams reported to the state agency from homeowners vary from work not being finished on time to tens of thousands of dollars being paid with no contracting work completed. Monsoon season is prime time in Arizona for unlicensed contractor scams.

According to the state agency, "scam artists" traveling state-to-state go door-to-door and offer to fix storm damage at "an unbeatable price with leftover material" from other jobs.

The con artist usually drives a new truck outfitted with building equipment and asks for cash. The work is never done, and it's difficult for the building regulator and police to track down the swindlers.

A check list from the Registrar for homeowners hiring a contractor:

• Check out the builder's license.

• Make sure the person is actually with the licensed contractor by calling the firm directly.

• Get written estimates for the work.

•Make sure the contract is detailed with information on any building permits legally required.